Fri, Jun 30, 2006
Improperly Calculated Weight & Balance Led To Runway
Crash
We're learning a lot
more about the crash during takeoff of an MK Airlines Boeing
747-200 freighter in Nova Scotia two years ago. The Canadian
Transportation Safety Board Thursday released its findings in the
accident, during which the jumbo jet went down in heavy woods near
the end of the runway in Halifax.
The TSB says that, in the end... it was a simple input error
that brought down the jumbo jet. While calculating weight and
balance, the board says the flight crew entered the plane's weight
wrong -- telling the flight management computer the aircraft was
220,000 pounds lighter than it really was.
Canada's CNEWS reports the acting chairman of the safety board,
Wendy Tadros, told a Thursday news conference in Ottawa that input
errors have become a worldwide problem, and she called on the
industry to come up with safeguards to prevent that sort of
error.
The new findings come after the lead TSB investigator found the
flight crew aboard the Ghana-registered 747 (file photo of
type, below) tried to take off with the throttles far
below the necessary power levels. That was confirmed by the flight
data recorder, which showed the plane hadn't developed adequate
thrust for takeoff.
As Aero-News reported, the
plane's tail bumped the runway twice before it broke up, and plowed
into the woods in the October 14, 2004 accident. All seven people
on board were killed.
Family members of the crew say their loved ones were bone tired,
and weren't sufficiently trained up on the 747's flight software.
The airline, based in London, denies that.
In fact, a spokesman for MK says the jumbo jet went down because
of a problem with the engines... a claim the TSB says it's been
able to disprove.
More News
Very High Frequency The frequency band between 30 and 300 MHz. Portions of this band, 108 to 118 MHz, are used for certain NAVAIDs; 118 to 136 MHz are used for civil air/ground voi>[...]
Aero Linx: Aviation Suppliers Association Established February 25, 1993, the Aviation Suppliers Association (ASA), based in Washington, D.C., is a not-for-profit association, repre>[...]
Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]
From 2021 (YouTube Version): Colorado Campus Offers aVariety Of Aerospace Entertainment And Education Wings over the Rockies Exploration of Flight is the second location for the Wi>[...]
Also: Paramotor Champ's, Electric Ultralight, ICON BK Update, Burt Rutan at Oshkosh! The Popular Rotorcraft Association is reaching out for help in rebuilding their private runway >[...]